Taxpayers don’t have to speculate about the date when the IRS will calculate their interests and penalties because their tax transcripts already contain this information.
Although it is easy to miss, the ‘As Of’ section of an account’s tax transcript informs taxpayers if they currently owe money to the government or if they’re eligible for a tax refund.
Confusing the ‘As Of’ date for the Refund Date is one of the most common mistakes taxpayers make. The important thing to remember is that these two dates aren’t the same because the ‘As Of’ date only indicates the account’s current balance.
In this article, we’ll answer what the ‘As Of’ date means on an IRS transcript and help you learn how to use it to find out if you’re owed money or if you owe taxes to the IRS.
Table of Contents
What is the ‘As Of’ Date on an IRS Transcript?
The ‘As Of’ date will appear in an IRS transcript the moment the Individual Master File system generates the document. Its purpose is to provide taxpayers with a timeframe to settle all pending tax debts or receive a tax refund.
The system automatically generates this date at the beginning of the processing stage to give taxpayers an overview of their account balance when their tax return was last reviewed.
However, this date might change whenever the system adds a new tax code to a transcript, so if Code 570 appears in your transcript, the ‘As Of’ date is likely to change. On the other hand, the presence of Code 150 or Code 806 won’t affect the ‘As Of’ date.
The ‘As Of’ date is always a future date. The reason for this is that the IRS wants to leave taxpayers enough time to settle a penalty or inform them about their tax refund’ value.
How Does the IRS Process Tax Returns?
All tax returns, whether e-filed or submitted on paper, must enter the Individual Master File system before their processing can begin.
That’s why you cannot start monitoring your tax return’s status as soon as you file it. The average waiting time ranges from a few days to a couple of weeks.
A tax transcript will become available for your account once your tax return enters the IMF system. Each transcript contains several codes and dates the system generates automatically based on previously specified parameters.
The ‘As Of’ date is one of the automatically generated dates the IMF system adds to tax transcripts by default. This date will change each time an account is updated to reflect the current account balance on a specific day.
The IRS uses the ‘As Of’ date to keep taxpayers informed about any outstanding debts or accrued interests their accounts might have.
Gaining Access to an Account’s Tax Transcript
95% of 2022 returns for the 2023 tax season were e-filed. This means that the vast majority of taxpayers have an IRS account, so you probably already have access to the tools you need to monitor your tax return’s status.
The Get Transcript tool enables you to request access to your account’s tax transcript online. All you need to do is ensure you’re logged in to your account on the IRS website and have a valid reason why you want to see the transcript.
Being able to keep track of your tax return’s status is a valid reason to make this request, so it shouldn’t take you long to gain access to this document.
This tool offers four types of transcripts, and you must select the Record of Account Transcript option if you want to check the current ‘As Of’ date.
Finding the ‘As Of’ Date on an IRS Transcript
You’ll see the ‘As Of’ date as soon as you open your tax transcript because it is located at the top of the page.
The following sections will be displayed next to this date:
- Account Balance
- Accrued Interest
- Accrued Penalty
- Account Balance Plus Accruals (This is Not a Payoff Amount)
The meaning of the ‘As Of’ date becomes much clearer when you view it in context with the sections above because it becomes clear that the date indicates the account balance or accrued penalty and interest for a specific timeframe.
For instance, the ‘As Of’ date is 03/03/2023, and the sum next to the Account Balance Plus Accruals is $0.00 – this indicates that the taxpayer doesn’t owe taxes. Additionally, it suggests that the current tax refund value is also $0.00.
The values next to each of these sections might change before or after 03/03/2023, but only if the IRS needs more time to calculate the penalties and interests.
The Differences between Refund and ‘As Of’ Dates
The most notable difference between these dates is that the Refund Date only appears on an IRS transcript after a tax refund is approved. The Refund Date is accompanied by the Code 846 Refund Issued, which essentially signals to a taxpayer that the review of the tax return is completed.
The ‘As Of’ date is added to a tax account transcript at the start of the processing stage. Its purpose isn’t to notify taxpayers when their refunds will be in their bank accounts. Instead, this date only indicates their account balance along with any penalties or interests on a certain date.
Unlike the Refund Date, the ‘As Of’ date can change during the processing cycle.
Frequently Asked Questions
The tax account’s updating frequency determines how often the ‘As Of’ date can change. The date will remain the same if the IRS processes a tax return within a three-week timeframe.
The first thing you’ll need to do if you notice that the ‘As Of’ date on your tax account transcript changes every week is check the Account Balance, Accrued Interest, and Accrued Penalty sections next to it. You must settle your tax debt if the Accrued Penalty value is above $0.00.
You won’t have to do anything if the adjustments of the Accrued Interest and Account Balance values are the reason why the ‘As Of’ date keeps changing.
The ‘As Of’ date will inform you how much time you have to settle a penalty. In most cases, you’ll have ten days to make an online payment or send a check to the IRS.
You don’t need an account on the IRS website to request a tax account transcript and check your account’s ‘As Of’ date because the IRS allows taxpayers to request a paper version of this document.
Final Thoughts
The easiest way to misinterpret the meaning of the ‘As Of’ date is to approach it out of context. That’s why you must look at the information next to it to fully grasp what it means.
This date indicates that the Account Balance, Accrued Interest, Accrued Penalties, and Account Balance Plus Accruals values are accurate for a timeframe defined by the ‘As Of’ date. As a result, taxpayers can check their account balances without having to analyze their tax transcripts.
The ‘As Of’ date will remain the same while a tax refund is under review unless the IRS needs more time to process a tax return. Consequently, most taxpayers don’t have to pay too much attention to this date.
Author:
Logan is a practicing CPA and founder of Choice Tax Relief and Money Done Right. After spending nearly a decade in the corporate world helping big businesses save money, he launched his blog with the goal of helping everyday Americans earn, save, and invest more money. Learn more about Logan.
